Scans_Daily

Bringing the crack since December 2003

Sibling rivalry, Hardy style... with added deathtraps!

So far this weekend, I've made a post which looked at the public reaction to superheroes in the MU which has had some fascinating discussions arising out of it, and a post from Micronauts in which m'learned friend whitesycamoreraised some intriguing points of the treatment of those perceived as "other" in fiction.

This time though, I'm not going for the deep or the meaningful, I'm going straight to cute guys tied up...

Now I don't know how many of you have siblings, I have more than one myself, and I love them all, but one of the things about siblings is that we argue... A LOT... usually over unimportant stuff that we forget about by the next day but we argue, we squabble, we "debate heatedly". It's sometimes fun, often cathartic, and, on mercifully rare occasions (in my experience), destructive.

So one of the things that always irked me a little about the Hardy Boys was that they NEVER seemed to argue. They were always in agreement, always on the same page. Even when steps were taken to differentiate between the personalities of the brothers (Joe being impulsive and intuitive, Frank analytical and logical) they were always in perfect sync with each other that it sort of set my teeth on edge.

Gerry Conway took over writing the Hardy Boys graphic novels from Scott Lobdell as of the last issue, and one of the first things he did was change that...

Sometimes all it takes is a poik in the wrong place....

11 pages from a 64 page Graphic Novel.

As you can see from the cover it's all gritted teeth and garb apparently nicked from Street Fighter, or possibly in this iteration, Double Dragon.

Yay! Fiendish deathtraps are back in vogue (Not that they ever went OUT of vogue to me! :) )

Awwww, pouty Hardy Boys are so cute...

There is a plot to go with the bondage, with the brothers, who despite their filial loyalty ARE getting on each others nerves something chronic (Joe is tired of being the little brother who Frank orders around and gets no respect, Frank is finding Joes impulsiveness aggravating) getting involved in a reality TV show about family rivalry which is having a few to many "accidents"

There's also a nice moment where their father tells them they need to take someone with them to the game to keep them both in check and from sniping at each other too much, someone "Who is as cautious as your mother and worries about you as much as your Aunt Trudie"... and both brothers immediately think of their old buddy Chet Morton.

Clues pile up, as do accidents, but they have difficulty communicating to each other...

Case in point, Joe acts on a hunch and finds a suspect, but in doing so, derails one of Franks plans, and he doesn't take kindly to it.

Oooh, now that's just NASTY Frank, and really asking for it.

Alas (or possibly fortunately) before they can completely come to blows, the shadowy figure in the booth hits that ominous looking switch and...

Now, can you also spot the difference in the before the capture, and the after the capture scenes?

Certainly one of the more painful escapes they've made over the years, and they've made a LOT of them...

They find the villain of the piece, but that person has already been killed by an as yet unknown third party, and it looks like they'll have to team up with Nancy Drew to sort things out, and her first job is going to be stopping them killing each other one feels.

Actually, it looks like her first job is some serious laying on of hands, which is perhaps not the most obvious move, but one I certainly can't fault her for....

Oh, and the difference I mentioned... Note that they're wearing completely different clothes in the deathtrap than they were when they were zapped, so the villain of the piece not only captured our studly young duo and put them in a perilous predicament, but took the time to strip them both and put them in new outfits beforehand. And as they go from one piece singlets to what look like martial art gear, that implies who ever did it didn't just put more clothes over what they were wearing, but stripped them RIGHT DOWN... That's either kinky on a level even I've never considered, or ever so slightly awesome!

Founded by girl geeks and members of the slash fandom, scans_daily strives to provide an atmosphere which is LGBTQ-friendly, anti-racist, anti-ableist, woman-friendly and otherwise discrimination and harassment free.

Bottom line: If slash, feminism or anti-oppressive practice makes you react negatively, scans_daily is probably not for you.